WASHINGTON – Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticized both Democrats and Republicans for failing to boost the nation’s infrastructure.
“No issue that I think can better exemplify the lack of investment in transportation,” Bloomberg said. “It shouldn’t take a tragic Amtrak accident to put infrastructure at the top of the agenda, and yet, even that didn’t do it.”
The fatal train crash in Philadelphia proved the need to upgrade the nation’s transportation system, he said.
“Over the past 15 years, under both Democratic and Republican Congresses and both Democratic and Republican presidencies, Washington has consistently given us the worst of both worlds,” said the founder and CEO of Bloomberg LP at the 2015 Fiscal Summit. He lamented both the lack of entitlement reform as well as the lack of investment.
Addressing the strained Highway Trust Fund, Bloomberg said the three scariest words in Washington are “tax, gas and increase.”
The federal government raises highway funding through the Highway Trust Fund, the repository for money from gasoline and diesel fuel taxes. However, the gasoline tax and diesel tax haven’t been increased on the federal level since 1993.
The use of more fuel-efficient cars also pinches the real money raised from the fund.
Bloomberg said President Barack Obama deserves a credit for “putting forward an ambitious infrastructure plan.” He referred to the administration’s six-year Grow America Act plan that would raise infrastructure funding by increasing the repatriation tax from overseas American companies.
“But this ought to be a bipartisan issue,” Bloomberg said. “Congress is doing what it does best: the bare minimum, kicking the can down the pothole-filled road.”
Bloomberg said he was cynical due to his political experience. The only way to get the attention of elected officials is either by helping them keep their jobs or kicking them out.
“Every time you are stuck in traffic, call your senator and a member of Congress, and tell them they are costing you money and ruining your lifestyle,” he suggested.
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